Butterflies

I'm all a flutter with excitement and anticipation.

No further information as yet.

OMG FOOTBALL

Its winter and that means one thing.
FOOTBALL.

It seems to take over our life. Jamie is the head coach and VP of our local junior AFL club. This means it takes on greater importance than just going to practice and playing each week.

Take for example this week...

Tuesday: The U14s team (the one Mark plays on) had their team dinner.
Wednesday: Usually training, but due to VERY bad weather, it was cancelled.
Friday: Jason (the club President) came over to do some scanning, and we ended up talking football for at least half an hour, before moving onto other topics. Training. That night, Jamie and Mark were gone from 4:30pm and got home at about 8pm. They had a guest coach - supposedly the kids mucked up and it was quite embarrassing.
Saturday: We went to watch the reserves for the Sydney Swans play at #1 Sports Ground. Drizzly weather but it was a nice day out. I was quite stressed as I don't cope to well with Ryan outside, but there were lots of spotters to keep him contained. Must start training to hold hands.
Sunday: Jamie and Mark will leave at about 7:45am for Jamie's U10s game. Mark is playing at 11:30, and Jamie umpires that game. Depending on how the sleep goes, I will go to watch some of it. I don't expect them home until 2ish... that is the norm.

Then Jamie sleeps.

Mark has enormous potential as an AFL player. He has speed, agility, talent. But he lacks determination and effort. The latter overtakes everything. Such a shame.

Ryan is a little goer. He loves footballs. We have round balls and AFL shaped balls, he MUCH prefers the AFL ones. He takes great delight in throwing and kicking it all over the place. Should be very interesting how he goes when he starts Auskick and how young he wants to play in the "real" games.

Ben just sleeps and eats.

I can't believe how I've come to enjoy the game. I don't mind at all going to a game. I can watch it on telly, if I have to. I quite like listening to it on the radio, but I really dislike the commentary of NRL and really hate listening to soccer. I guess it is what I understand, reminds me of my real home. Man, I miss Melbourne and NEED to move home. I love watching Mark play, I love watching him run. I think the truth is, I love Mark.

Music

Favourite music in our house. Also learning how to use blogger better ;)

Embarrassingly it is Ke$ha - this is being used to advertise a new show called "Downton Abbey" and I'm watching it mainly due to the way its been advertised with modern music and it appears to be set in the late 1800s.




An all time favourite is Black Betty by Spiderbait. This is doubly awesome due to the fact one of Spiderbaits band members name is Kram, which is what we call Mark when he's been naughty Kram is Mark spelled backwards, otherwise known as the antiMark. Ryan adores this song, and has been calmed down many a time when he's been upset or not too well. Funny song to use as a calmer!



I'm still totally in love with Lady Gaga.. not her, but I do love her music. There is something about this Telephone song that I just love. Film clip is very "out there" I don't actually like it, but it is what it is.

Exceptional.

That is the word I would use to describe my middle child. Another that springs to mind is magical. He has a certain something about him.

A complete copy cat - his newest craze is brushing his teeth. He stops every few moments to wipe his mouth with the towel whilst making a sound with his mouth (something akin to blowing your nose).

~~~ LOVE ~~~

Just thought I'd share some snaps of love!

Frustrating.

There are many causes of frustration.


Having a blog post all formulated in your head, but then Blogger doesn't work so you completely forget what you were going to write about.


NEVER catching up on washing. I can't believe how much washing this family of mine produces. There are currently 5 people in my family, Ben doesn't change that often and only has two clothing items. Ryan needs a full change everyday and now its winter there are heaps more. Mark is just confusing... but a uniform and he seems to want to wash his PJs each day, I think he can't be bothered putting them away (not I think, I know), I have no idea how Jamie wears his clothes, I seem to wash 4 pairs of socks each day! Driving me mental.


The amount of packaging after a grocery shop. I had two full plastic shopping bags of excess plastic, plus a cereal box full of recycling.


No one - and I mean no one - helps me around the house. If I ask Mark to put his own dinner plate in the dishwasher you would think I asked him to mop the floor "ugh do I have to, grumble grumble grumble". I'm hopeless at housework, but its all left to me!


6 weeks ago when Margie was here, we completely tidied the computer room. I'm sitting in this room now and is revolting. I'm so embarrassed, how do we get it like this. Piles and piles of STUFF. WTF are we doing????


Breastfeeding. My milk is a little bit too intense and I leak a lot. Ben has trouble with the right side and it overfills. Both boobs hurt most of the time, I hate hate hate two of my bras, the other two are sort of ok.

Too much day time TV

When Jamie leaves in the morning, you close the front door behind him and have a quick 15 minute workout on the "Tower 200 with Jake".

Then whip on the "Zumba DVD's" and prance around the house with your brand new ..."H2O steam mop and Swivel Sweeper". If you use the "H2O Steam mop" in 5 mins you will receive an additional vacuum cleaner absolutely free.

Now by now it should be around midday.

You should have prepared your "speed slicer" and "bullet express" so you can arrange dinner to be cooked in your "flavorwave oven" all ready for Jamie when he gets home.

But wait there's more.

You can whack on your "Pro-Active" skin care treatment and within 15 minutes your skin will feel fresher and clearer".

Then smear on some "Dr Lewinne's skin treatment" for that Goddess feeling to last the day.

No need to apply make-up your magic container of "Thin Lizzie" has covered all with the one product.

Now while the boys are having their afternoon nap, jump on the "ab circle pro" and feel those muscles really getting a workout.

When you've finished its time to clean those gutters for Jamie who is off working really really hard lol.

So you get outside and reach for the amazing "transformer ladder" with over 200 ways to use it, and start clearing those gutters and cobwebs from the corners of the house.Don't forget to rest your coffee mug on one of the 2 free steps you get !!!

Now it's almost time for Jamie to get home, and you're wondering is the car he is driving insured and are we paying too much. Never fear, you can give "I Select"" a call as they can find the best cover for you which seems much cheaper because you're at home slaving away with all that you do and rarely get out to drive.

Well what do you know, by now Jamie is home and dinner is lovingly laid out prepared on the table for Jamie to eat with the 24 packs of "Free steak knives" you have received for everything you've purchased.

You finally get to put you feet up on the couch, muscles screaming and feel like you're ready to die.

Suddenly an ad appears for "Real Funeral Iinsurance" and you start to wonder like you did today ........LMAO


As written by the brilliant Kirsty Palmer.

Bed Time (11/5/2011)

Had an interesting trip to bed for young RJ Storer tonight.

Firstly he ate his dinner beautifully, the best eating he's done for over a month. He fed himself and didn't chuck anything on the floor (quite an achievement for Ryan).

Then I popped him in the bath, he loves his baths. He was splashing about, helped to wash his face, I gave him a scrub down with the cloth. Then he played with his containers and squeaky toys. Next thing I noticed was him leaning to the side, it was the dreaded "log in the bath". Ryan had done a BIG POO. Thankfully it was a solid one so was easy to fish out. There is something really gross about poo anywhere but the toilet, come to think of it, poo in the toilet is pretty bad too.


Then it was fight time, putting nappies on this boy is hard work. He needs something new and interesting to hold to stay still, screams and kicks and won't lie still. Until the nappy is on and then he stays put. Hard work and bad for the back. So I dredged him in baby powder for a change and he enjoyed it.


I put him in his gorgeous new flannelette PJs. I love the look of winter PJs on little boys, they look like old men, the fact that Ryan is so short makes it even cuter.


Then we went to the kitchen and he cried whilst I got his evening milk. He doesn't like waiting. Then the look of relief when I give him his bottle.


The grand plan is to wean him off a bottle in the next week or so. At the moment he is teething, so generally off his food to the point its not really fair to deprive him of easy milk. I'd like to give him milk from a cup, but he tips it over himself, he is really good with a straw, so might do it that way. A bit of both maybe.


Then we pop into our sleeping bag. Over summer I didn't bother with anything other than the "Linus" blankie, but now that it is cold (that is Newcastle cold, not Nova Scotia cold), we need something a little more substantial. He was waking overnight due to freezing toes, so I'm fixing that with a polar fleece sleeping bag.

Next I give him Lambie and turn his music on. Nan and Pop gave Ryan a musical mobile for his first Christmas and he loves it, it has a soft light that goes from blue to red and makes it not so dark.


So that is our go to bed routine (hopefully the log part won't continue). If I organise it so that it all happens around 7pm, its usually pretty successful. Then I go and look at my gorgeous little Ben... ahhhh.

Back to Baking

I'm gonna make a sultana cake. Will be yummy for me, good for Mark and Ryan. I might even do a bit of my artistic photography.

Immigration - my thoughts

I'm pretty confused about this one. Why send "boat people" to Malaysia when we already have a centre in Nauru? I'm sure the people of Nauru would like their jobs back. But I guess it was organised by John Howard, and if Julia Gillard uses it, it will be seen as endorsing his policy. But as she is using exactly the same policy, why not use a centre that is already built.

My main issue with our immigration policies, especially around boat people is as the ad says, they are desperate people who have used desperate means. I think if you are scared for your life, you can't get on a bus to Kabul to go to the embassy to fill in the forms, or the embassy in Khartoum as we probably don't have one. These poor people are running for their lives. I would equate them with battered women (and men to appease those people who always announce that men can be battered too) who run to a women's refuge in the middle of the night with only their clothes. Why didn't they organise some money, a divorce lawyer, a new place to live and pack all of their belongings. Oh that's right, they are in fear of their lives.

Maybe the government needs to spend more money on employing people to do background checks on asylum seekers, as I believe anecdotally that most boat people are legitimate refugees. According to www.crikey.com.au

• Cost of detainment per person, per day on Christmas Island (as of 2007): $1830  — SMH
• Cost of detainment per person, per day at Sydney’s Villawood detention centre (as of 2007): $238  —  SMH

During the riots on Christmas Island there were about 2500 people on Christmas Island. So if the Department of Immigration employ an extra 50 people to do background checks and pay them an annual pay rate of $75,000 that is the same cost as keeping 50 people in detention for 7 weeks. As most stay about a year... it makes economic sense... and most of them get asylum anyway! If my figures are wrong, I apologise, but you get what I mean.

Teething

What a awful thing to happen to a little person. Ryab got his first two - actually 8 teeth without much of an issue. They just popped through, maybe a bit of a whinge, but nothing to write home about.

These molars on the other hand. His little chubby cheeks are red, he's off his food, not sleeping very well, cuddly and sooky. Was awake from 12:30 to 1:30 last night just whimpering and cuddling, makes for a very tired me. The face is what is amazing, Jamie only just noticed it today, he can't believe that his cheeks can be so affected by teeth coming through.

He's getting dosed on Panadol which helps so much and I'm putting off the weaning of the bottle until he's better. His bottle of milk is such a comfort to my little Ryan.

What I can see in his mouth is at least one eye tooth and three molars cutting through the gum line. Poor little chap.

On a side note: in desperate need of winter PJs and some singlets for little dude, its freaking freezing here (and its all relative, so the fact that its still 17 is freezing for here)

Fashion crisis

I need help. I need a lot of help. I really like this look: Now I know I'm not that size, I'm much more this: which of course is ICKY. So I'm not going to be doing the skinny jeans with brown boots this winter. I tried on a pair of skinny jeans tonight and it was horrifying. How to plummet any self esteem you might have is to see the wrong style of clothes in a change room mirror. We don't' have a full length mirror at our home, so I don't' see the full me very often at all. According to Westfield Trend watch is the following:

1. Loungerie - Inner as outerwear
The decadence of the 1980's was the last time fashion saw lingerie being worn as outer-wear with Madonna leading the way in the ‘big reveal' of exposed underwear. The 2011 twist on this will see a luxe chic combination of lingerie, swimwear and lounge apparel combine to form a ‘loungerie' fashion trend for 2011.
Think minimal fluid fabrics in neutral tones, sheers and whisper-thin fabrics exposing peeks of lingerie, underneath loose-fitting jumpsuits, long skirts, column dresses and wide-leg trousers.
Problem is we're heading into winter, so whisper thin fabrics don't make sense. Can't wear dresses at the moment due to breastfeeding. Loose fitting jumpsuit (I recall a jumpsuit I wore in the 80s it was turquoise pop snap thing that I thought was marvelous). So other than neutral tones which hopefully wouldn't "wash" me out too much, not much joy with loungerie.


2. Sophisticated seventies
Forget the Boho, flower child look of the seventies and get some vintage-glamour into your wardrobe for 2011. The 1970s gave us such sexy, striking and stylish fashion trends that seventies threads just keep reappearing year after year. Seventies glamour is that smouldering, sequinned, smokey look of the era and can be adopted day or night into your wardrobe.
By day, work the wide-legged trouser, floaty jumpsuit, super-high platform or wide-brimmed hat for a bold statement. When the night?falls, think long, slinky, sexy, glistening gowns that give a sense of movement - look for?high-riding splits or low hanging backs in luxe and shimmering fabrics like satin or Lurex.
I think I'll just say OMG with this one. I'm currently a SAHM to two kiddies under 18 months old (and the teenager who would positively die at the thought), so platform shoes and glistening gowns just aren't practical.


3. Leather and lace

They may be poles apart in texture, but leather and lace are opposites that certainly attract in 2011. Both featured on 2010 catwalks and are back next season with a fabulous vengeance.? Opt for the wider, antique-styles of lace that exude a vintage-feel rather than the finer, sexier weaves. Make a statement with lace rather than adding a girlie edge or try leaving out the slip and going for the sheer look that will carry on from last season. Leather always has its place every season, but the biker look rocked in 2010 with biker pants, boots and jackets making a strong appearance. Teaming softer finishes like lace and floral prints with the toughness of leather looks to make resurgence again in 2011.
I did see a nice faux leather jackets this evening. Could "work" this look.


4. Bell-bottoms are back - the new trouser
Don't panic, skinny jeans are still in, and always will be. But the wide-leg, flared trouser is experiencing yet another revival as an on-trend alternative to the staple skinny. The Nu-vogue of bell-bottoms, do however, come with some rules. Firstly, the hem should be wide, at least as wide as your foot and on the longer side skimming the top of your toes. Most importantly however, is that the 2011 take on the trend is a looser-fitting, cut generously at the knee rather than the thigh and knee-skimming cuts of a few years ago. Keeping the leg and hem wide means that a fitted high to the waist style will be more flattering and gives the fully fledged 1970s vibe.
This is funny, I found an old (like 5 years old) pair of jeans this week and they quite wide at the bottom ie bell bottom, so I'm on the fashion with this one. I do think they are awful though. But currently its those jeans or trackies!


5. Colour splash

In keeping with the vibrant, cheerful, swinging 70s theme, bold colours and all shades of tan, camel and neutrals will make a huge splash in 2011. Think boxy shifts in pillar-box red, canary yellow, cobalt blue and a dash of burnt orange. Make a statement with colour or thread it through your neutral palettes with loud and proud accessories. Block colour is mixed with printed patterns galore with digital prints, geometric shapes and animal prints making an appearance and keep your eyes out for more original looks like the Chinese porcelain print and other Asiatic finishes. Cool whites are hot this year from summer through winter and hit anywhere on the neutral palette from cappuccino browns to tans and camel or the coolness of silvery metallics and gun-metal greys.
I can do colour, but need a STYLE.
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Looking at Kmart tonight (yes I know Kmart is not the best option, but it was 8:30 on a Saturday night and that is the only store open), they only had flimsy sheer tops, or windcheaters. There was hardly any nice warm tops. Will keep looking at the fashion pages to see what is good. People watching the other people who go to Kmart on a Saturday night showed some weird-assed clothes, chunky girls in short dresses with the revolting wedge boot
Just checked out Witchery, everything is over $50 and I can't justify what is essentially a tshirt being $50. Looked at Zara which people are going APE over and can't find much of an Australian store, the Canadian one, I'm not too impressed about. Maybe Jeans West is more me... again everything is frigging expensive. The other issue I have is we do have a winter, its not a Canadian winter, or even a Tasmanian winter. But I don't want to put my heater on, so I need to dress warmly, most of the clothes I've seen is either paper thin, short- or no- sleeved, even the "jumpers" are thin. If you want actual warmth, you need a horrible windcheater, which I already own and don't like.

ARGH, I hate being a bit fat and not know what suits me.

My thoughts

Who is interested in my thoughts on this Osama bin Laden assassination?

Well no one really, but this is my forum to speak, so I will.

The media needs to STOP talking about it, like right now. Them continuing to talk relentlessly about it will make the retaliations happen.

As in all news articles, one must give a little background about what I'm speaking.

I remember the night of 11th September 2001 (not sure of the date in Australia, but truly does it matter, it matters the date it was in America) very very clearly. We were living in our new home in Tullamarine, we'd been there since June. It was late at night about 10.30 or 11pm, and I was asleep on the couch in the lounge room (fallen asleep watching telly), Jamie was in bed (hmm, he used to sleep). I woke up about 10:30ish and thought some strange movie about burning buildings was on. That movie didn't interest me, so I changed the channel and the same scene was on, and then the next channel had the same scene. This must NOT be a movie. So I woke Jamie up... we watched for a bit, and finally realised that is was real, we saw the second plane crash into the World Trade Centre. We called both sets of parents to get them to watch. We stayed up most of the night and watched the events unfold. I remember the awfulness of the twin towers collapsing and hearing the messages that family members left on telephones. The sheer hopelessness of everyone who was in those buildings, there was no escape.

We joined in the world in hate for Osama bin Laden. He caused it, he masterminded it, even if he didn't actually do it. Every few months bin Laden put out a taunting video via El Jazeera news network. But that stopped quite a few years ago. The war in Iraq and Afghanistan continues, but not as a search for bin Laden, more of a path to democracy for those countries. To be honest, I thought that maybe bin Laden had died or gone into hiding so much that he had become irrelevant.

Then the news came this week that bin Laden had been living in a large compound in Pakistan quite close to an army training facility and Navy Seals had gone in and killed him (and others).

I'm pleased he was killed. I'm pleased he wasn't captured and put on trial. He would haven been made a spectacle of, if they had tortured him (very likely), I wouldn't have felt bad for him, no one deserves to be tortured, but a straight assassination, I'm in favour of. Its quick and cost effective - my goodness did I just write that?

But I also feel its a little irrelevant. He is not a Taliban powerhouse, Al Queda is not really a force to be reckoned with anymore (or maybe it is and I'm not paying attention). I feel it was correct to have him assassinated, but the US government should have reported nothing more than what President Obama said in his speech and then said nothing else. They do NOT need to have reported that he was unarmed, or that he was carrying money, or that he possibly used a woman to shield him. The details are NOT necessary. It was a secret mission by the elite Navy SEALS, they did their job, and leave it at that.

I do not want to see pictures of his body, he was shot in the face, so a picture won't stop conspiracy theorists. Bin Laden was far removed from public consciousness, it seems silly to say he's been killed if he wasn't. If it was a year after 9/11 then it could be a conspiracy, but as its 10 years... well.... good for Obama's re-election (but that has been said also)

I don't have influence, so if you are a blog troller, please don't worry about my opinion, which is just that... my opinion.

Update about the boys.

"The boys" is new absolutely favourite saying in the whole wide world. Still LOVING the fact that I finally have three children. It was my dream growing up to have three children, didn't expect them all to be boys, but by-jingo I'm loving being the mother to "the boys"

As a precursor, I'm feeling much better PND wise. I think talking it out to the maternal health nurse, Jamie, Mum and sort of to Connie has helped marvelously. Jamie has been fantastic and I think I've had another week to get used to stuff.

Ben Arthur is 4 weeks old today (that's not a month, only 4 weeks). He smiles, gurgles, squarks, drinks milk like its going out of fashion, poops and sleeps. He looks quite intently at me. I'm still not entirely sure what to do with him, but we will work on that over the next (hopefully) 50 odd years.

Ryan Joseph is 17 months old now. He doesn't know how to sit still anymore. He is constantly on the go, the only way to make him sit down is to strap him in his highchair, carseat or the pram. He is very happy to sit in all three (thank goodness). I'm starting to wean him off his bottle during the day, giving him his milk in a glass using a straw. We will work up to drinking out of it independently as time progresses. He is still a totally shit eater - yogurt, cheese, custard, ice cream (grandparents were dairy farmers you see)... no problems, anything else such as meat and vegies... not so good. His speech is amazing, he babbles incessantly, no real words yet, but engages in conversation. When on speaker phone to the grandparents, they will talk and he will answer very conversationally and loud. He adores little Ben, giving him kisses and hugs at every opportunity, thankfully now its a much shorter duration and one or two kisses is enough and then he'll move on. I have to watch little Ben like a hawk though, Ryan is very quick to throw things and today he had a golf ball in his hand.

Mark Emmanuel who is one and a half months off being 13, has been the wonder kid this weekend. We had drama central yesterday at our house and he was banished to his room (and out of earshot) he did not complain once, he did require to play with my new HTC phone though. Tonight he has done his English homework, I'd like to say without complaining, but that isn't true, but he did it independently which is highly irregular. He's been much calmer with Ryan and showing more interest in Ben. Today he had a bye in his football, so did boundary umpire with Jamie and was paid $10 for his efforts.

Funny story (and thank goodess I'm a trusting wife)

So yesterday was an extremely busy day for us.

Lots of football issues to be fixed and Jamie had a job with his computer fixit company (he fixes people's computers onsite for them). Prior to the job he had to collect his umpire uniform. So off he went to get the uniform, and in the process had forgotten his job clipboard, so had to return home to get it.

Very close to our house he spotted a hitch hiker (very very strange as we live in a quiet suburb with two roads in and two roads out - local traffic only), as he pulled up, the woman came over and asked if he was going to town. As he sort of was, he offered to give her a lift (after he collected his clipboard). Mark spotted him out the window and asked me "Who's in the car with Jamie".... "I don't know" and didn't give it another thought.

Later in the evening he told me about it. She started chatting to him, asked him what he was doing as it looked like he was working. He said that he was and it surprised him as he normally didn't get much work on the weekend. She said she gets much more work on the weekend. Jamie asked "What do you do?"
"Oh, I'm a street prostitute!"
Now this is why I love this man, he told me, I didn't want to offend her by reacting, so tried my hardest not to... he asked her what their situation was with the police, and they had an intelligent conversation until he dropped her off.

I'm so pleased that I fully trust him and am not the slightest bit worried that he "used her services"

So its true, my 4WD which has two baby car seats in the back was sat in by a street prostitute that my husband picked up!